NEWS SCAN for Turkey – Sept 13th, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites
Underpass at Taksim Square completed and opened to vehicle traffic
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality opened the underpass, which is expected to be a cure for the heavy traffic at the heart of the city. The underpass is part of the pedestrian project at Taksim.
The underpass which connects Tarlabaşı Boulevard and Cumhuriyet Street was opened to traffic Friday morning at around 9:00 a.m.
Residents of the mega town are concerned about the traffic situation after September 16th when nearly 20,000 additional vehicles will hit the roads as 2.5 million students start their school year. According to the IBB, most of the roadwork all over the city will have been completed by Sept. 16.
Turkey needs to export more goods and services to China
Speaking at the Turkish-Chinese Commerce and Investment Forum, organized by TUSKON and supported by the Council for Chinese Progress in International Trade (CCPIT) and the Turkish-Chinese Business Association and Guangdong Turkish Business Association the minister also said that Turkey wanted to export more goods and services to China.
Çağlayan went on to say “Both China and Turkey are big economies. Their trade and economic relations are at good levels, but it is not enough. Our trade volume may easily be raised to $124 billion from $24 billion. The biggest obstacle appears to be fact that we do not know each other well. China exports goods and services worth up to $2 trillion and imports up to $1.7 trillion. Let’s get to know each other better.”
China has become the third biggest trade partner of Turkey in the last decade, after Russia and Germany. Turkey’s foreign trade deficit however exceeded $68 billion in the last four years. The 18 percent of Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has resulted from our imports from China.
Turkish FM says “No peace in Syria only with chemical agreement”
Ahmet Davutoğlu has stated that a solution to the Syrian crisis based on handing over chemical weapons would not bring peace to the war-torn country.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had earlier confirmed that Syria planned to relinquish its chemical arms, and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the global community to take him seriously.
Commenting on the issue Davuyoğlu said “A solution merely to surrender such weapons stocks will not bring peace to Syria, if it meant to the Syrian regime that sanctions would never be imposed on you no matter how many people you killed unless you used chemical weapons”.
“Steps which will be taken to stop the regime’s attacks and crimes will bring peace,” Davutoğlu told reporters Sept. 13 at a press conference with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Santos Lopez.
Logoglu: Egyptian people will find peace
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy leader Faruk Logoglu and CHP deputy from Istanbul Osman Koruturk commented yesterday on their visit to Cairo which was paid upon the request of Egyptian officials.
In response to a question on whether the road map drawn by the army in Egypt will put an end to the polarization of people living there, Logoglu replied, “The negotiations and agreements to be made among the Egyptian public will determine how far this road map can develop. It is not up to any other country, including Turkey, to decide what Egyptians are able to do or not.”
Underlying the fact that CHP does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt, Logoglu said, “We do believe that Egyptian people possess the necessary wisdom, virtue and capability to end the turmoil in their homeland.”
Minister says Turkey does not make reforms to please EU
Turkey’s Minister of EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen BAGIS who spoke in an unofficial meeting of the Expansion Working Group of the Council of the European Union held in Lithuania on Thursday said Turkey did not make reforms to please the EU.”
The minister added that Turkey did not care for the reports published as much as before and the administration was well aware that the country had to undertake those reforms primarily for own people.”
BAGIS underlined that the reform process would continue in Turkey and said, “We are working on a new democratization package. It will grant more rights to people with different faiths, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.”
13.09.2013
SOURCE: MEDIA
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
